Two of the city’s ongoing improvement projects took major steps forward Monday.

The members of the Dowagiac City Council took action on the recently announced Commercial Street renovation project and the previously stalled airport terminal building construction job during the assembly’s meeting that evening at city hall.

In the first project, the council approved a contract to demolish several properties the city acquired in recent years, including the former Westrate & Thomas law office and the Weaver Insurance building on Commercial as well as two other properties along the corridor. The work will be performed by Dowagiac’s Merrill Excavating, the company with the lowest bid at $24,450.

The work is the first major construction in the Commercial Street project, which is intended to make the downtown area more visually appealing, through construction of new green spaces. In addition, the city will add additional parking spaces to the area and improve visibility at the Commercial/Division intersection.

“We are out for bid on this project for the full complete work of it,” said City Manager Kevin Anderson. “We expect at the next council meeting that will be coming forward. What this does is allow us to get out in front of the project and start knocking those buildings down.”

The city intends to demolish another building for the project, located at 305 Commercial St., though bids for that work were not complete in time for Monday’s meeting, Anderson said.

The demolition work should wrap up by the end of July, with construction on the rest of the project expected to begin in August, Anderson said.

City council also awarded a contract for the construction of the new terminal building at Dowagiac Municipal Airport during Monday’s meeting. The work will be performed by Fiskars Inc., of St. Joseph, for $585,790.

The approval came months after the city initially put the terminal project out for bid. In April, the city rejected the sole offer from Grand Rapids’ F & V Construction Management to build the structure for $640,000, as that price came in far in excess of the initial price estimates provided to the city for the project.

According to the city manager, grant money from the Federal Aviation Administration will pay for 95 percent of the work, with the city only being responsible for around $30,000.

Other action taken by council Monday included:

• Transfer of ownership of city-owned property on the 400 block of Johnson Street to Willie and Arqullia Lewis for $100.

• Payment of bills and payroll in the amount of $613,997.